RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwire - April 25, 2012) - Precision BioSciences, Inc., a leader in the field of genome engineering, today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Cellectis SA (ALCLS) and a number of its affiliates in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The lawsuit seeks a ruling that Cellectis' manufacture, use, sale, and importation of certain engineered meganucleases infringe U.S. Patent No. 8,163,514, which relates to Precision BioSciences' industry-leading Directed Nuclease Editor™ genome engineering technology. The lawsuit requests monetary damages as well as a permanent injunction preventing Cellectis from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing infringing engineered meganucleases in the United States. Precision BioSciences previously announced that it had filed suit against Cellectis for alleged infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,021,867, 8,119,381, 8,119,361, 8,124,369, 8,129,134, 8,133,697, 8,143,015, 8,143,016, and 8,148,098.

"As leading innovators in the emerging field of genome engineering, the Precision BioSciences team invented and developed many of the key technical contributions that have transformed the dream of highly specific genome engineering into a reality. Today, we hold a broad and growing patent estate that reflects aspects of the highly important discoveries related to our Directed Nuclease Editor genome engineering technology," said Matthew Kane, CEO of Precision BioSciences. "Therefore, while we have little interest in entangling Precision in expensive litigation, we feel we have no other recourse to stop what we believe is clear and extensive infringement by Cellectis of our valuable intellectual property rights."

About Precision BioSciencesPrecision BioSciences' mission is to continually provide, improve, and enable the world's most powerful genome engineering technology. Precision's proprietary Directed Nuclease Editor™ (DNE) technology enables the production of genome editing enzymes that can insert, remove, modify, and regulate essentially any gene in mammalian or plant cells.

Precision BioSciences' vision is to be the conduit through which the world's greatest genome engineering challenges are solved. Precision has successfully utilized its DNE technology to create innovative products in partnerships with many of the world's largest biopharmaceutical, agbiotech, and animal research firms. Internally, Precision is developing applications of DNE in biological production and human therapeutics. For additional information, please visit www.precisionbiosciences.com.